A key that will enable us to enter into the overcoming life is a revelation of our position in Christ Jesus. Many Christians do not understand that their righteousness is based on their being in Him and not on anything they have done to earn it.
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
Romans 5:15-16
It sometimes seems like the majority of people attending church think they are unrighteous because they have sinned. This is a works-based consciousness that is not based on Scripture. I recognize that there may be people who read these words who have done some really bad things in the past. This does not matter to God. Our righteousness is based on Jesus’ works, not ours! We cannot allow ourselves to fall into the trap of equating our righteousness to how good we are.
One of the subtle strategies of Satan is to convince Christians that they are not worthy to stand before God. Some people have struggled with this and the consequence is they do not believe God can use them because of their shortcomings. God was indeed upset with the human race. It is also true that humanity was separated from Him. Paul makes it very clear in his writings that the reason for this was Adam’s sin, not ours. Our sins only confirm that we have his nature inside of us.
Our actions do have consequences in regards to dealing with people around us but not in regards to how God views us. In regards to our relationship with God, it is not our actions that separate us from Him. It is our sinful nature that we inherited at birth as a result of Adam’s sin. Our sins are a result of us having that sinful nature.
So let me summarize this: Our sins did not give us a sinful nature but our sin nature did cause us to sin. This very different from what most people believe. Death entered into this world as a result of Adam’s sin.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Psalms 51:5
The Psalmist is not saying our mother committed adultery or some other sin to conceive us. He is saying though that we were conceived with a sin nature. Parents do not need to teach their children how to lie or be selfish.
For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Romans 7:9
We have a sin nature. It has been with us since birth but it is not imputed to us in Christ! Sin is not held against us until we knowingly yield and cooperate with Satan in the commission of it. Children may sin but they are not held accountable until an awareness of their actions is developed. It is our sinful nature that separates us from God. This is the foundation for our study of an overcoming Christian life.
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:21
The word sin in this verse was translated from the Greek word hamartia which is used forty-five times in Romans. It is a noun and not a verb. This is important. A noun describes a person, place, or thing. A verb is an action that a person, place, or thing does. The word is translated in the singular all but one time in the book of Romans.
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.
Romans 3:25
So when Paul tells us that sin (singular) reigned unto death, he was not talking about the sins we commit. He was talking about the sin nature. Our spirits were ruled by this nature before we accepted Jesus and invited Him to be the Lord and Savior of our lives. The word “reign” is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as something that possesses or exercises sovereign power over. Unsaved men and women are possessed and ruled over by their sin nature which is why they sin.
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:21
The word “death” in this verse is not talking about physical death.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
Paul is not talking about physical death in this verse. Anything that manifests in our lives as a result of sin is death. Sickness is death. Poverty is death. Depression is death. The word sin in this verse is singular which means it is referring to our sin nature that has been abolished in Christ Jesus.
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Ephesians 2:1-3
We were born into this world with a sin nature inherited from the very first sin committed by Adam and Eve. Unsaved people have this nature in them but when a person receives Jesus as their Lord and Savior they are recreated in His image spiritually.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Unsaved people commit sin “actions” because of their sin “nature”. Christians commit sin “actions” because they have not taken the time to renew their minds to the work that has been completed in them as a result of Jesus’ redemptive work.
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